Between the street and Aso Rock*: the role of Nigerian trade unions in popular protests

The trade unions’ instrumental role in four decades of successful popular resistance against subsidy removals is widely recognised, but insufficiently understood due to inadequate consideration of the particularities of labour. The subsidy contestations are considered a barometer of Nigerian politics, and the 2012 subsidy protests – often referred as Occupy Nigeria – was one of the largest popular mobilisations in Nigerian history. Whereas unionists described the outcome as a successful demonstration of popular sovereignty, other protesters blamed the unions for unfulfilled democratic opportunities and for succumbing to bribery. With labour theoretical perspectives, this article critically examines the trade unions’ positions, actions and relations during those protests. The article demonstrates, in practice, not only how the unions’ capacities to mobilise, strike and negotiate, were instrumental to the reinstatement of the subsidy, but also how trade unions’ agency is both enabled and constrained by labour's multiple embeddedness in state, civil society and the market.     

Governing the Safety and Security of the Malacca Strait: The Nippon Foundation between States and Industry

ABSTRACT

Despite long-standing sovereignty sensitivities, the Malacca and Singapore Straits have been the site of co-operative governance and regime building. Of note is the 2007 Co-operative Mechanism of the Straits of Malacca and Singapore, characterised as a milestone achievement in regional co-operation towards improved safety and security in the Straits. Yet, well before the Co-operative Mechanism were also earlier instances of co-operation dating to the 1970s – specifically between the Straits’ littoral states under a tripartite framework and Japanese actors through the Malacca Strait Council. In addition to providing a template for the Co-operative Mechanism, these arrangements offer alternative models of governance and regime building that challenge conventional characterisations of “regional governance” – what it looks like, as well as its driving actors. This article considers the significance of these early efforts, with attention to the ways that the region’s developmental context bears on the actors, structures and processes of governance in Southeast Asia. Not only does this historical process of co-operation give expression to alternative governing arrangements composed of mixed actors and obligations, but an unconventional governance agent – the Nippon Foundation – has played an especially defining role in bringing actors to the table and substantiating the co-operative process.     

Workplace regimes in Sino-Mozambican construction projects: resentment and tension in a divided workplace

Based on a qualitative study of Chinese-led construction projects in Mozambique, this article explores how Chinese engagement in the construction sector affects workplace regimes. The study addresses the following set of questions: What characterises these workplace regimes, and why do the workplace regimes give rise to resentment and tension amongst Mozambican workers? Furthermore, how is labour agency constrained or enabled within these workplace regimes? The data reveals that Chinese companies in Mozambique are granted great freedom to develop workplace regimes as they see fit, characterised by functional flexibility, low pay and few benefits. Furthermore, the creation of a divided workplace, with separate workplace regimes for Chinese and Mozambican workers, exacerbates resentment amongst Mozambican workers. The Mozambican workers employ multiple strategies to express their discontent, but labour agency is constrained by weak national institutional support, and lack of alternative employment opportunities in the local labour market.     

从物质到社会:经济学研究对象的三阶段演变及其内在逻辑

The main purpose of economic research is to improve national and social welfare. It contains not only material welfare, but also social benefits. Also, the welfare connotation changed at different times in history. Those changes lead to the evolution of economics. In fact, although modern mainstream economics still concentrate the subject of study on placement of scarce resources, the focus of research in economics will not be the issue of wealth distribution. The subject of economic study has experienced three significant changes. The first one, holding by Classical Economics is the focus on material welfare creation. The second one, highly emphasized by Neoclassical Economics, is the notion that includes distribution of resources and money exchange. The last one, promoted by modern mainstream economics after the 1970s, broadens the research content greatly due to referring to extensive social utility.     

International Public Goods and Agency Problems in Treaty Organizations

This paper analyzes the extent to which international public goods and agency problems are present in international organizations. A noncooperative model of the funding choices of donor countries and the subsequent policy choices of an international agency is used to develop hypotheses about the behavior of ideal and problematic international agencies. The analysis suggests that international agencies are likely to be underfunded and undermonitored relative to that which maximizes the joint interest of signatory countries. The funding and policy implications of the model are tested using data from the Global Environment Facility (GEF). The statistical results suggest that (i) treaty obligations affect behavior of Annex 1 and non-Annex 1 countries, (ii) GEF’s allocation of grants generally advances the international environmental agenda, and (iii) significant free-riding and agency problems exist in GEF as it is presently organized. Overall, the empirical results suggest that treaty organizations may be relatively effective, if not perfect, instruments of international public policy.      

派出机构法律地位及改革思路的若干思考

派出机构是行政机关为更好地实现其对国家事务和社会事务的管理而设立的一种行政组织,遍布行政管理的各个领域。在行政执法、行政复议以及行政诉讼中,派出机构视不同情形具有不同的法律地位。目前派出机构在设置、职能、管理以及监督方面都存在不少问题,需要通过立法加强对其法律规制。     

从五部歌剧看中国歌剧丰收期音乐创作特点

中国歌剧的音乐创作在第二次发展期(丰收期)中表现出5个方面的特点:一是在歌剧音乐的发展手法方面,表现出以传统戏曲音乐或当地民歌为主题音调,借鉴西洋作曲技法加以改编发展的特点。二是在人物音乐形象的刻画方面更具体,更富个性。三是在音乐的表现力方面,增强了交响乐队在表现戏剧性剧情方面的力度。四是在演唱形式的运用方面,对独唱、重唱及合唱等演唱形式的运用更加成熟。五是在宣叙调的写作方面,开始了集乐队衬托对白插入、诗句配乐乃至全剧演唱于一体的中国式的“宣叙调”写作方式。     

论因判决而生的物权变动

《物权法》第二十八条规定了因判决而生的物权变动，然而该条所规定的判决究竞为何种判决、何种的法律效果并没有明确。本文旨在从民事诉讼法理论关于诉的分类（即确认之诉、给付之诉、形成之诉）着手，对该条所规定的判决究为何种判决做一个分析，从而为该条的正确适用略尽绵薄之力。     

韩日政府信息公开制度及对我国的启示

韩日政府信息公开制度确立较早,取得了大量经验。我国政府信息公开制度还处在起步、发展阶段。借鉴韩日政府信息公开制度的经验,逐步夯实我国政府信息公开的社会基础;树立我国政府信息公开的正确理念;确定我国政府信息公开的合理范围;建立政府信息公开的审议机构;完善我国政府信息公开的制度体系。     

环境责任审计初探

在可持续发展和低碳经济背景下,中国环境审计实务已经取得了较快的发展,环境审计已逐步成为中国审计未来工作的重点。但是,环境审计仍然难以向纵深发展。该文提出,鉴于环境责任与经济责任之间的关联关系,可以考虑将环境责任审计纳入领导人经济责任审计中,完善环境责任审计的配套机制,以便更好地引导环境保护行为的健康发展。